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CHRONOLOGY of the REVOLUTION February 1917-July 1918 Marl( D CHRONOLOGY OF THE REVOLUTION February 1917-July 1918 Marl( D. Steinberg 1917 FEBRUARY 23 (MARCH 8): International Women's Day. Strikes and demonstrations in Petrograd, the capital, growing over the next few days. FEBRUARY 26 (MARCH 11): Tsar Nicholas II orders commander of Petrograd garrison to suppress disorders. FEBRUARY 27 (MARCH 12): FEBRUARY REVOLUTION: Garrison mu- tinies. Formation of Provisional Committee of the Duma by liberals from Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets), and Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies, headed by Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs). FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 2 (MARCH 13-15): Political strikes and dem- onstrations spread to Moscow and provincial capitals. Soviets— councils of elected workers' and soldiers' deputies, usually led by activists from socialist parties—form in most Russian cities. MARCH 2 (15): Nicholas II abdicates. Provisional Government composed mainly of Kadet party ministers established after agreement with Petrograd Soviet. MARCH: Provisional Government declares amnesty to political prisoners and exiles; enacts freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, and strikes; ends death penalty; abolishes flogging and exile to Siberia; removes all legal restrictions of rights based on nationality or religion; begins preparations for elections to Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal, secret, direct, and equal suffrage; and promises land reform. CHRONOLOGY OF THE REVOLUTION xxxvii APRIL 3-4 (16-17): Lenin returns to Petrograd from his exile in Switzerland and issues "April Theses," which call for revo- lution against "bourgeois" Provisional Government, political power to the Soviets, an end to the war, nationalization of land and its distribution to peasants, and industry under the control of workers* councils. APRIL 20-21 (MAY 3-4): APRIL DAYS: armed demonstrations by workers and soldiers in the streets of Petrograd and Moscow after leak to the public of a diplomatic note to the Allies from Foreign Minister Pavel Miliukov apparently expressing annexa- tionist war aims. MAY 5 (18): First coalition government: six socialist ministers (Mensheviks and SRs) join Provisional Government. SPRING AND SUMMER: Continuing labor strikes amid inflation and fuel and food shortages; agrarian unrest, including such di- rect violations of gentry property rights as illegal wood cut- ting, theft of seed and tools, and land seizures; strengthening of national independence movements; and growing Bolshevik success in elections to factory committees, soldiers' and sailors' committees, and neighborhood Soviets. JUNE 3-24 (JUNE 16-JuLY 7): First All-Russian Congress of Work- ers' and Soldiers' Deputies elects Central Executive Committee, headed by Mensheviks and SRs. JUNE 16 (29): Russian offensive on Austrian front begins; within days, it becomes a rout. JUNE 18 (31): Street march in Petrograd, organized by Congress of Soviets, is unexpectedly dominated by Bolshevik slogans: "Down with the Ten Capitalist Ministers," "Down with the Offensive," "All Power to the Soviets." JULY 3—5 (16-18): JULY DAYS: mass armed demonstrations in Petrograd, encouraged by the Bolsheviks, demanding "All Power to the Soviets." Bolshevik leaders arrested or go into hiding. JULY 11 (24): Socialist Alexander Kerensky becomes prime minis- ter. Other ministerial changes follow, bringing other moderate socialists into the government. AUGUST 12-15 (25-28): State Conference in Moscow, bringing together representatives from a wide range of civic organiza- xxxviii CHRONOLOGY OF THE REVOLUTION tions and parties (Bolsheviks refuse to participate). Fails to unite society in support of Provisional Government, but reveals widely held sentiments for firm authority and order. AUGUST 26-30 (SEPTEMBER 8-12): Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army Gen. Lavr Kornilov attempts military putsch. AUGUST 31 (SEPTEMBER 13): Bolsheviks win majority in Petrograd Soviet. SEPTEMBER 5 (18): Bolsheviks win majority in Moscow Soviet. SEPTEMBER 14-22 (SEPTEMBER 27-OcTOBER 5): Democratic State Conference in Petrograd—composed of representatives of urban and rural Soviets, city Dumas, soldiers' committees, trade unions, and other organizations—refuses to support Bolshevik appeals to form a Soviet government. OCTOBER 24-25 (NOVEMBER 6-7): OCTOBER REVOLUTION: Bolshe- vik Military Revolutionary Committee overthrows Provisional Government. OCTOBER 25-26: In protest against Bolshevik seizure of power, Mensheviks and SRs walk out of Second Congress of Soviets, which endorses seizure of power. OCTOBER 26 (NOVEMBER 8): Congress passes Decree on Peace, ap- pealing to belligerents to conclude an immediate peace without annexations or indemnities and promising to publish all secret treaties. OCTOBER 26 (NOVEMBER 8): Congress passes Decree on Land, abol- ishing private ownership of land and use of hired agricultural labor. In conformity with peasant tradition, land is to be distrib- uted among households according to need or available family labor. OCTOBER 26 (NOVEMBER 8): Congress approves formation of an all-Bolshevik government, the Council of People's Commissars (Sotmarfym), headed by Lenin. OCTOBER 27 (NOVEMBER 9): Decree on the Press—first legislative act of Sovnarkom—gives Sovnarkom the power to suspend or shut any publication "inciting to open resistance or disobedi- ence" against the government. Causes dissent among Bolshevik leadership and Left SRs. OCTOBER 31-NovEMBER 2 (NOVEMBER 13-15): Fighting in Moscow ends in Bolshevik victory. NOVEMBER 2 (15): Bolshevik party rejects demands—made by CHRONOLOGY OF THE REVOLUTION xxxix Union of Railroad Employees and supported by several leading Bolsheviks, including Kamenev and Zinov'ev—for a multi- party socialist government. NOVEMBER 2 (15): Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia promises all nationalities the right to "free self-determi- nation." NOVEMBER 12 (25): Elections to Constituent Assembly begin, as scheduled by Provisional Government. Bolsheviks, who win most cities and garrisons, gain 24 percent of the vote, but are outnumbered by Socialist Revolutionaries with 40 percent. NOVEMBER 14 (27): Decree on Workers' Control gives workers extensive supervisory power in industrial enterprises. NOVEMBER 28 (DECEMBER 11): Constitutional Democratic Party banned and leaders arrested as "enemies of the people." DECEMBER 7 (20): Cheka established to fight "counterrevolution and sabotage." DECEMBER 9-10 (22-23): Agreement on cooperation with Left SRs, who enter Sovnarkom and Cheka collegium. DECEMBER 12 (25): Lenin's Theses on the Constituent Assembly justifies disbanding Assembly. DECEMBER 16 (29): Decree abolishes all ranks and titles in the army, recognizes authority of soldiers' committees and councils, and requires democratic election of officers. LATE DECEMBER: Tsarist generals Mikhail Alekseev and Kornilov establish Volunteer Army to fight against Soviet government. 19188 JANUARY 1 (14): Attempt to assassinate Lenin. JANUARY 5 (18): Constituent Assembly meets in Petrograd. Fifty thousand demonstrate in support, despite ban on demonstra- tions. Dispersed with force, killing between eight and twenty- one people. JANUARY 6 (19): Constituent Assembly disbanded. Some protests. JANUARY 19 (FEBRUARY 1): Patriarch Tikhon anathematizes the Bolsheviks for bringing harm to the church and for "sowing the seeds of hatred, enmity, and fratricidal strife." He calls on believers to defend the church. JANUARY 24 (FEBRUARY 6): Adoption of new calendar, to begin xl CHRONOLOGY OF THE REVOLUTION January 31 (Old Style), in order that Russia "calculate time" in same way as "almost all cultured nations." FEBRUARY 18 (New Style): After unsuccessful peace negotiations, German and Austrian troops resume offensive against Russia. Following rapid success, Germans add new territorial demands to peace terms. MARCH 3: At Brest-Litovsk, Russians agree to peace terms, which Lenin admits are "obscene." Provokes widespread dissent in party and society. EARLY MARCH: Capital moved to Moscow. MARCH: Meetings of factory deputies in Petrograd—organized by Menshevik-led Assembly of Factory Plenipotentiaries—protest worsening economic conditions and Bolshevik rule. MARCH 8: Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (Bolshevik) renamed Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik). MARCH 9: Allied forces land at Murmansk. MARCH 14: Left SRs quit government in protest against Brest- Litovsk. During April-June, SRs increasingly critical of Bol- shevik policies. APRIL 4: "Left Communists"—based in Moscow party organi- zation and including Nikolai Bukharin—issue manifesto criti- cizing Soviet foreign and economic policies as insufficiently revolutionary and democratic. MAY 13: To end food shortages, declaration of struggle against "greedy kulaks and wealthy peasants," who are accused of hoarding and speculating in grain. MAY 20: Decree creates armed "food supply detachments" to col- lect grain from peasants. MAY 22: Rebellion of Czechoslovak Legion (army of former Czech and Slovak war prisoners trying to return to the front via Vladi- vostok) begins after government attempts to disarm them. MAY-JUNE: Meetings of workers' representatives in Petrograd and Moscow protest economic breakdown and Bolshevik authori- tarianism toward workers and peasants and demand reconven- ing of Constituent Assembly and new elections to Soviets. EARLY JUNE: British troops land at Archangel. JUNE 7-8: Czech Legion takes Samara, after which deputies to Constituent Assembly form an anti-Bolshevik socialist govern- CHRONOLOGY OF THE REVOLUTION xli ment (Committee of Members
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